As I said I pray and talk to God, Jesus, and Mary. I certainly am one to call on the aid of the Saints, St. Anthony of missing items and St. Jude of helpless causes being two of my mainstays. When Roma, our cat, was sick and we brought him to Blue Pearl I prayed to St. Francis of Assisi. I have a St. Christopher, patron Saint of travelers, medal in my car. At times when I get scared or worried a Hail Mary is my go to prayer. In fact when ghost hunting at Waverly Hills Sanatorium we had two separate interactions revolved around being Catholic. The first was when I had been spooked and was silently praying a Hail Mary and the spirit communication tool someone was using gave the word "silent." The second was my favorite interaction on the second floor we kept getting words like Reverend and Trinity and asked if their was a priest on the recorders we captured an EVP saying "no". Then a few minutes later as Meg and I talk about being Catholic we hear someone say "I am Catholic." Here is a link to that blog post if you are interested Waverly Hills Ghost Hunt or one of the youtube video of our findings that should open right to the interaction I am mentioning.
So this year for Lent I decided to rediscover the Church. I searched for seven different Churches in seven different states to visit during the Lenten season.
While the trip and location is planned because of the Churches some of the trips (especially closer to home trips) will have a few other things added in. Mainly because I have more time to see things and still keep it a day trip. I find the driving time alone with my thoughts to be a good time to talk to God and whether I stop to see something of man made interest or natural beauty sometimes just the traveling and experiencing of a road trip can be a spiritual experience.
Church one: St. Francis De Sales in Paducah, Kentucky
I took the picture of the panel on the left because of the young man seemingly walking along the outside of the panel. I didn't know that this picture is the same street where St. Francis de Sales is located and actually the Church is just a few buildings away. The picture on the right commemorated floods in 1884, 1913, and the most devastating flood in 1937. This flood saw the waters of the Ohio river crest at over 60 feet. A National Geographic photographer snapped a photo of a cow on a second floor porch (upper right).
The downtown streets of Paducah are dotted with historical markers celebrating the history of the town like one that explained the property had been bought for $5. Apparently 37,000 acres of land was part of a Revolutionary War grant to George Rogers Clark, whose grave we had seen at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville (Cave Hill Cemetery). When George Clark passed away his brother General William Clark purchased the land from the estate. A second plaque explained the history of the town's name being for Chief Paduke's Chickasaw tribe that had once lived and hunted in the area. A third plaque a few buildings away told about Dr. Reuben Saunders who was born in KY September 6th, 1808 and had been working out of a medical office in Paducah during the cholera epidemic in 1873 when he discovered that the hypodermic use of morphine-atropine stopped the disease. From Paducah he telegraphed prescriptions to other areas and saved lives.
Then I reached the Church.
Now a little bit of info I learned about about St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. He was born August 21 1567 (which means the eclipse in 2017 was his 450th birthday- this has no bearing on anything other than the fact that that was my initial thought when I saw his birthday) and he passed away in December of 1622. I did not realize but he is the patron Saint of writers and journalists.
His book "Introduction to the Devout Life" is a series of letters addressed to Philothea, lover of God so that de Sales addresses all in his writings and not just a particular individual. He further explains his purpose is to address:
"those who live in town, with families, at court, and are obliged to live an ordinary life as to outward appearance... wherever we may be, we can and should aspire to the perfect life."
His focus on writings for lay people certainly made this Church a very appropriate first stop for someone like me coming back to the Church after a long time away. One critic refers to de Sales as one of the earliest Christian Humanists because of his focus on the individual, love, and human happiness and dignity as a path to understanding Jesus' teachings. You can see his humanism in many of his quotes but two that stood out to me were:
"Be who you are and be that well."
"Be patient with everyone, but above all with yourself... do not be disheartened by your imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them- every day begin your task anew."
He was living and writing at a time when Christianity was divided by the Reformation and a large part of his region in France was Calvinist. I think that effected his writings much in the same way St. Augustine, another Bishop and Father of the Church who I studied in detail during college, dealt with a number of heresies. I could see his emphasis on love, forgiveness, and value of the individual as a reaction to the strict authoritarian nature of Calvinism in particular pre-destination.
The Church itself is the oldest Church in Paducah still standing at its original location. The property was purchased for $225 by Father Elisha Burbin and the Church was built the following year. The original structure was brick and blue limestone and was set back from the road and fenced in so that livestock could roam. The current Church is actually the third version and was constructed in 1899 and is much larger then the previous two. Like the original two it is constructed of brick and features two bell towers for a total cost of $35,000. In 1979 the Church and rectory were added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Upon arriving I entered and realized that there was a mass being said. I hadn't looked up the mass schedule and didn't realize. I felt a bit like I was intruding as I sat down quietly in a back row.
Now at the time I had not read anything about Francis de Sales, I'm sure that going to Catholic school from kindergarten to senior year of high school I had at some point learned about him but that was at a minimum half my lifetime ago and sitting there in the Church I didn't remember it. I write that now because having learned what I have in the week since I visited his Church I can say he would truly be proud of his namesake and the parishioners that were at that mass with what my experience was. When we reached the point in the mass when those in attendance give the sign of peace my experience has been that you shake the hands of those near you and maybe give a wave or two to friends that are too far to reach. They did not do that. They did shake hands with those in reach but then proceeded to give the peace sign to everyone, even those not nearby, and even turning to me in the back row. And I felt incredibly welcomed. I'm not sure how else to describe beyond just saying that but I felt an actual emotional feeling that I was welcomed. And what strikes me now is a quote I read from one of Francis de Sales books about an hour ago that certainly, upon reading it, made me think his parishioners are following his teaching.
"You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves."
As mass continued I began thinking about Communion and the fact that I had not been to Confession in years. It was a thought I hadn't really had since I planned on visiting churches and not necessarily going to a mass. Once mass was over I took the opportunity to take some pictures and walk around the Church.
I stopped to light a candle and say a prayer beneath the painting of St. Francis before leaving.
As I walked back to my car I admired the architecture of the various buildings I passed. I've always found something fun in different looking buildings coming together to form one front, as opposed to new shopping centers that will have the same facade for each building.
As I walked back to my car I saw this picture painted on a wall
and proceeded to have "Jeremiah was a bull frog" stuck in my head.
As I began driving home I continued thinking about going to Confession and how long it had been. So I decided to try and get to Confession before my next road trip to a Church. So I suppose that already makes this a successful Lenten resolution.
Church two: Shrine of the most Blessed Sacrament Hanceville, Alabama
After my visit to St. Francis de Sales I began to look up local Churches schedules for confession. But the hours were often on weekends when I work and I was hoping to go to confession before I visited my second Church, this way if I did walk into a mass I could partake in Communion. Then I decided to look up the confession schedule of my second Church. Maybe I could work it out that way. Sure enough the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament had confession nearly every day of the week at 8am. The Shrine was also a little over three hours away from my house. So if I wanted to be there by 8am, actually 7:30 because I hate being late to things, I had to leave very early in the morning. So I did. I left my house at 4am, stopped for a large coffee and full tank of gas, and headed out on to the highway. The drive was easy because it was basically just highway 65. That is one of the best things about being so close to Nashville there are several major highways that travel to and around the city which makes road trips way more possible than being stuck in the middle of Long Island, NY.
(Background info if you are not one of my three friends/family who read this blog and have stumbled on it because of a tag or label- I moved to TN from Long Island NY. I closed on my house on my 30th birthday- so 30 year mortgage on my 30th birthday= blog called My Next 30 Years. Apparently I am remaining ever optimistic that I will continue to have 30 years or else maybe I should have done a countdown and would by on My Next 24 Years but that doesn't roll of the tongue so nicely and I plan on living past 60)
Anyway back to the trip to the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament. Along I-65 at the "Sweet Home Alabama" welcome center is a Saturn V rocket. I had seen it before when we went to Gulf Shores for HangOut Fest a few years ago. The Saturn V is a marvelous rocket that was designed for the Apollo program of the late 60s and 70s. It stands at the Welcome Center because it was designed by Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.
If you are ever driving down I 65 and you come to this rest stop pull over and stretch your legs. There is also a Veterans Memorial at the location. The vending machines are well stocked and the bathrooms are clean and well maintained.
As I drove I tried to think about what I would say in Confession. I wondered if the Priest would ask why it had been so long since I had been to Confession and what had kept me away from the Church I had grown up in. I felt like trying to collect my thoughts and going over my past made the drive go by really quick because before I knew it I was there and was not at all prepared for what I found.
I drove through the open gate and down a short road to the Shrine.
Too bad I wasn't a little earlier because that morning had been a magnificent sunrise and had I gotten there just maybe 30 minutes earlier it would have been a fantastic orange and red sky behind the Shrine. Not that it wasn't amazing enough with the light blue sky behind it.
The Shrine was built due to the work and devotion of Mother Mary Angelica, who had entered the Poor Clares of perpetual Adoration in 1944. An accident while working one day nearly left her paralyzed and Mother Mary Angelica promised that if she walked again she would build a monastery in the South to honor God. Once her recovery was complete she began the work of trying to build her monastery. On a trip in Columbia Mother Mary Angelica was inspired by a statue of the Divine Child when, while looking at a statue of the Divine Child she heard the voice of a young boy say:
"Build me a Temple ... and I will help those who help you."
Having already built her promised Monastery in Alabama she now began to seek out a place to honor the Blessed Sacrament and the Divine Child.
"I want very much to spread devotion to the Divine Child Jesus. Not only is He powerful, but what you and I need is family- and that Child Jesus will make us one again. He will put love in our hearts, where it should be."
- Mother Mary Angelica
I didn't take a full picture but the Shrine had colonnades protruding from either side surrounding the piazza just like St. Peter's in Rome. At the center of the piazza was a statue of the Divine Child. I entered the Shrine quietly and sat in the back since there was a mass in progress. After mass I went to the back by the Confessionals and got in line. Then I realized I had spent the whole drive thinking about my reasons for not having been to Confession and Mass but that didn't matter at the moment. Confession should just be between myself and God. So while I had been preparing a list of things I the Church had done that I disliked or disagreed with I should have been preparing a list of things I had done. There was a girl in line behind me so I switched places with her to think some more. I hadn't been to Confession in well over fifteen years. I've only been to mass a handful of times since the death of John Paul II and most of those were for funerals. So I started thinking about what I do wrong and ended up with jealousy, anger, and lying. Later as I was thinking more about it I thought I could have confessed to being judgmental because I think I am too often. So I guess I will have to go back to Confession.
After leaving the Church I explored the rest of the property that included a Nativity Grotto, The Castle San Michael, and a replica Grotto of the visitation at Lourdes.
I left the Shrine and travelled about twenty minutes away to the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, AL. The grotto is located in an abandoned quarry on the property of a Benedictine Monastery and is the result of a lifetime of work by one of the monks, Brother Joseph. He had begun building small sculptures using concrete and whatever he may have found which were sold in the monastery gift shop. Eventually his sculptures became larger and he began sculpting miniatures of many religious, some secular, and even some more whimsical buildings. Brother Joseph had never seen most of these building and constructed them by looking at pictures and tourist postcards of them. What started as a way to keep his mind busy has turned into an amazing gift of his talent and dedication. Among the statues was this life sized statue of Brother Joseph.
Above are examples of some of his building, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, The Church at Lourdes, and a breathtaking recreation of St. Peter's. For an example of his more whimsical works these are some photos of his temple of the fairy king. Inside is this tiny organ. It serves as a good example of how he used anything he could including shells and pieces of colored glass.
Church three: St. Mary Basilica Natchez, Mississippi
Next I took a week long trip with my sister and Mom to Natchez, MS by driving the entire Natchez Trace Parkway. For a full recap of the trip follow this link: A drive through time on the Natchez Trace. While in Natchez we stopped my third Church St. Mary Basilica. Natchez was designated the See in 1837 and construction of the Cathedral began in 1842 but was finished for over forty years. In 1999 St. Mary was designated as a minor basilica. We drove around the small streets of the historic district of Natchez when the Church exploded in to sight. I remember turning a corner and seeing the brick tower rising up from the building.
Inside the Gothic style Church was stunning.
The Church is narrow which I think makes it appear taller than the building actually is. The ceiling was a beautiful and simple blue that contrasted with the white wall. Behind the altar was a beautiful painting of Christ on the cross with Mary at his side. At the back was the organ and choir loft. The pipes were framed beautifully mimicking the pint of the buttress supports.
Church four: St. Mary of the Barrens National Shrine Perryville, Missouri
The day after we got back from Natchez we got back in the car and drove in the opposite direction north to Missouri and Perryville. Two years ago when from coast to coast America experienced a Solar Eclipse I had begun following the work of a psychologist and eclipse expert. She wrote about preparing for an eclipse and the psychological effect that experience had on others. I had corresponded with her on social media and email and when I discovered she was going to be giving a talk five hours away at a community center in Perryville I jumped at the chance to meet her. During the trip Meg and I stopped at Mary of the Barrens Catholic Church but could only see the outside since the interior was closed for reservations. So when I came up with the idea of visiting other Churches of course I figured it would be a good time to return to see the inside.
It was a cloudy rainy day but the rain held off enough for us to see the Church and take the rosary walk. The Church is the home of the Vincentians who are dedicated to acts of charity. The Church was built in 1818, predating Missouri's statehood. However the original Church was replaced by the current one built with limestone from the property.
The Church is also the National Shrine to the Miraculous Medal of Mary, based on the visions of St. Catherine LaBoure in 1830. On two separate days Mary appeared to St. Catherine and the from that the medal was made to use for help in devotions. Showing their dedication to Mary there was a side chapel for praying the rosary and I saw that in the pews not only was there a rosary guide but there were rosaries left for visitors to use.
We then went outside to the rosary walk which featured statues of St. Catherine and St. Vincent de Paul. Also still standing is the original sacristy from the first Church, one of the oldest surviving building of that pioneer era.
Blog about the eclipse
Roadtrip to Perryville
Church five: St. John the Baptist Savannah Georgia
Next was St. John the Baptist in Savannah, my furthest Church so far. I have wanted to go to Savannah for quite some time and plan on returning since there was only so much we could see in the short trip. My sister and I left late on Thursday and drove for awhile before finding our new favorite hotel chain, Wyndham Microtel. I had never really thought about what the star rating of hotels meant I assumed it had to do with reviews. I didn't put together that it had to do with the amenities of the hotels, amenities I never take advantage of on short stays. Why pay for a three star hotel when I know I won't be using a gym or conference room?
We arrived in Savannah on Friday morning and were supposed to be going straight to the Church but apparently there is a second St. John the Baptist. However the detour was worth it because it took us right past a giant water tank that has been painted to look like the earth. Now I knew this existed but we weren't necessarily going to see it on this trip.
Shortly after passing it is when we learned we were in the wrong area. We reprogrammed the GPS and after a slight delay we got on the right track. Parking in Savannah was pretty easy. The streets were marked with numbers and on the corner was a pay machine for $1 I got two hours of parking.
When we first arrived there was a security officer outside the Church because Stations of The Cross was in progress and they were holding tourists until after the service. We walked around the square and took pictures of the outside.
The outside was beautiful with a giant rose window. The architecture features a lot of long straight lines all pointing up drawing your attention to the sky. This is a beautiful example of how architecture can be used to fit the purpose of the building. A person physically standing at the foot of the steps looking up at sky mirrors the spiritual aspect of looking to God in the heavens. When I was younger I spent a semester studying in Rome, Italy. One of the classes was an art and architecture class where we all travelled to different Churches around Rome to see the art inside the Churches and study the architecture and different styles of the Churches. I thought about that class a lot while I was visiting these Churches.
The Church was dedicated in 1896 but a fire in 1898 destroyed most of the Church. It would take over thirteen years for all the repairs to be finished. Inside was breathtaking with many different details: there are 81 stained glass windows from Austria, the Stations of the Cross are hand-carved wood from Germany, the columns are steel painted to look like marble, the floor in the body of the Church is white marble from Georgia and pink marble from Tennessee, and the altar floor is Italian marble.
I stopped at the left side of the altar to say a prayer and light a candle.
With about an hour still left on my parking spot we decided to walk around a little bit. We walked over to Leopold's Ice cream parlor. We both ordered our ice cream in their home made waffle cones. The shop had a long line outside which wasn't a surprise because it was warm out and the streets were pretty crowded with tourists. As we waited outside an employee from the shop offered us water and held out menus. A sign told the parlor story about how three brothers from Greece had come to Savannah at the turn of the century and opened their ice cream shop. Today the shop is still a family owned business and is filled with movie posters showing off the work of one of the brothers youngest son who works as a producer in Hollywood.
As we walked back to the car eating our ice cream we approached what I first thought was a park but once we got closer we realized it was a small cemetery with colonial era graves. An arch at the entrances had a sign that said "In memory of Patriots of War American Revolution 1775-1783 resting in Colonial Cemetery."
We reached our car and went to find some lunch. we settled on Moon River Brewing Company. It was Friday so we couldn't eat meat and reviews that Meg found online raved over the breweries vegetarian burger which made it an easy choice. The reviews were right! That was the best vegetarian burger I have ever had. We also ordered the full flight which came in two half moon shaped wood boards.
Then we went to the famous and haunting Bonaventure Cemetery there is certainly something about the hanging Spanish moss surrounded by tombstones that gives an air of the supernatural.
There were a few graves I had looked up in the cemetery including the grave of Conrad Aiken. Aiken was an American poet who lived 1889-1973. He was born in Savanah and studied at Harvard with T.S. Eliot. It is Aiken who is credited with increasing the popularity of Emily Dickinson's poems in America. Legend is that his tombstone is in the shape of a bench so that visitors can sit and read poetry. On the bench it says "Cosmos Mariner Destination Unknown."
Church six: Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows Basilica Chicago, Illinois
The next Church was a tough trip. Chicago is a little over seven hours away from my house. The Church that I was trying to see was only open from 10-noon on Saturdays. The first weekend I wanted to go they were closed because they were filming something at the Church. As a result the Saturday that we were going we had to be home by nine pm because my Mom, who joined me on this trip needed to be home for a show at Tennessee Performing Arts center. As a result we left my house at around 3am. This way we would get to the Church right when it opened to have time to look around, say a prayer, and light a candle. And then have time to get a bite to eat and get home to drop my Mom at the theater.
We entered the Church from a side door into a chapel that had a statue of Mary cradling Jesus. We then continued into the main body of the Church. Along the sides of the Church were several chapels including one to St. Peregrine. For me as a Catholic I love the idea of Saints, that they act as agents on our behalf when prayed too.
St. Peregrine lived from 1260-1345 he joined an order of Mary, the Servites in his early twenties. He preached in his hometown of Forli and became known for his attention to the sick and poor. When he was older, in his sixties, he developed an infection in his right leg that eventually lead to a plan to amputate his leg. As the story goes the night before his operation while praying before a crucifixion he fell into a trance and saw Jesus approach and touch his leg. The next day when the doctor came to perform the operation they found his leg had been healed. In 1609 Pope Paul V gave him the title of Blessed and in 1726 Pope Benedict XIII canonized him.
Because of his remarkable story of healing he is the patron Saint of those suffering from cancer and the National Shrine to St. Peregrine is Our Lady of Sorrows. As I wrote above the intercession of the Saints on our behalf is one of my favorite parts of Catholicism. I have certainly said my fair share of prayers asking St. Anthony to help me find something, St. Jude for helpless causes, and St. Francis for the health of my pets and animals. Now I pray to St. Peregrine to intercede for those who suffer from cancer.
Church seven: Cathedral of the Immaculate Nashville, TN
The last Church was the closest to me. The original plan was to visit my seventh Church at easter mass in Nashville however I went to the Cathedral early on Good Friday for confession.
The last Church was the closest to me. The original plan was to visit my seventh Church at easter mass in Nashville however I went to the Cathedral early on Good Friday for confession.
The interior of the Church is in the process of being restored. The center is finished and the wings will be done next as will the stations of the cross. Circling around the interior of the Church is the Angelus prayer. This is an old prayer dating back to the 11th century as a devotion to Mary.
Because it was Good Friday and that is a common day for Catholics to go to Confession the Church was having a specially scheduled Confession where they expected over 200 parishioners to attend. As I waited for my turn I used my phone to look up a guide to Confession to help me figure out what I wanted to say. I already knew I wanted to confess to being to judgmental of other people. But I felt like there was more than that too. As I looked at the guide I found what was really on my mind: anger at God. I can understand people do terrible things or make bad decisions because of free will. But what about random acts like natural disasters or disease. Why does that happen to good people? I think a lot about one time when I had been at the Cathedral for mass shortly after my Mom moved to TN. The reading was from Kings when the prophet Elijah visited a widow and her son. He asked for some bread and at first the widow said she did not have food to spare. Elijah urges her that it will be ok and she made him some bread. As a reward her and her son had bread everyday. And I got angry thinking I was happy for her in the story but what about a neighbor who was also starving and maybe wouldn't have ever protested at all. Why was one widow saved and another not?
On Easter Sunday I returned to the Cathedral for mass. Father Steiner was the officiate and gave a great homily where he spoke about the origin of the word happy being the noun "hap" meaning chance. It was a good homily.
I think this was a good Lenten resolution. Not only did it get me back in to Church, even if not for mass but just visiting Churches and letting the art affect me. It also got me thinking about my faith and the role it has played in my life as well as my relationship with the Church and God.
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